We have looked through all (OK, not all of the 8,000) of the books for the best book sale of the year – Big Bad Wolf Dubai January 2021. Here are some of our recommendations to snag while you can! *This is not a sponsored or affiliated post, we just get excited about good sales.
The big one. The bad one. The wolf one. So maybe that attempt at a dramatic entrance didn’t quite cut it, but I had to try. For those unfamiliar with the book buying scene in Dubai, good sales are rare. Very rare. Perhaps as rare as finding a wolf in Dubai? Sharjah has done an amazing job with literature in general, producing annual literature festivals that certainly draw in an admirable array of authors and bookworms. And Sharjah Book Authority also handles the Big Bad Wolf sale.
Normally this sale takes place in a MASSIVE warehouse out in the middle of nowhere, where they ship in thousands, maybe millions? of books in English and Arabic as well as a ton of puzzles, games, activity books etc. If you’ve never been, I implore you to go when covid-19 isn’t getting in the way.
The usual Big Bad Wolf sale usually takes place annually in October; however 2020 was, well, 2020. No luck for us book lovers itching for access to some new reads at a steal of a deal. So imagine our delight to let everyone know that the Big Bad Wolf sale is ON. RIGHT. NOW.
That’s right. January 23-26 2021 is your new window of bliss. Go to noon.com and click on the Big Bad Wolf banner at the top of the website and you’re IN.
Is an online sale as good as winding through a massive warehouse? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. There are a lot of benefits, like fewer time constraints, no traffic or drive, delivery of your books instead of hauling them to your car, the ability to shop from the comfort of your jammies, and of course, our personal favorite part is that you can easily look up each book for summaries and ratings, as well as prices etc. You don’t have to stand there with a pile of books, staring at your phone trying to flip between Amazon and Kinokuniya and Goodreads trying to figure out if you should buy that book just because it’s 9aed or get this one that looks better even though it’s 20aed.
And did I mention delivery? And jammies?
Anyway, Jill and Amanda both took a look through as many as we could get through (there are a ton of books, ladies and gentlemen!), and chose some of our favorites to watch out for. By no means is this a comprehensive list, because holy smokes, 8,000 books is a lot to look through even in your pajamas, but this will hopefully give you a good starting point if you’re clueless! We are heavy-handed on the children’s books and the non-fiction since those are typically what we buy for ourselves rather than opting for audiobooks or library rentals.
Let’s get shopping!
Big Bad Wolf Dubai January 2021 Recommendations:
Category: Under 5aed
Sadly, this category didn’t show anything of interest to us. Sometimes there are great deals here, but we didn’t see them this year.
Category: Under 10aed
Now we are talking. If you’re looking for activity books for your kids, start in this category. Think sticker books, etc. Many are priced at 9aed. There are also several books like cook books, some self-help, etc.
Category: Under 15aed
Activity books and sticker books
Classics
Sometimes you just need an 11aed copy of Pride and Prejudice. We get it. Big Bad Wolf has several classic fictions you should take a look at.
Category: Children’s Books
Classics and series
The classics we have seen that you can’t go wrong with: Winnie the Pooh, Roald Dahl set, Elephant and Piggie series, The Pigeon series, Curious George series, The Famous Five series, Horrible Histories nonfiction series, Jedi Academy series, hardback Narnia books, the Paddington Bear series. There are several books from some series, or complete box sets in others!
Princess early chapter/chapter books
So many princess books! We can personally vouch for at least these Disney Princess Beginnings books, the Ever After High books (Yay Shannon Hale!), the animated hardcover Disney classics, and The Perilous Princess Plot , but be sure to look around for your princess lover! Some of these are recommended on our princess list. Anna and Elsa book set is also in my cart!
Snow White and other picture books
Beyond this gorgeously illustrated version, also look at, Superheroes without Capes,
How to Train Your Dragon series
These are a bit different than the movies in all the right ways.
Maze, sticker and activity books etc
To find these, try searching in the main search bar for “activity book” or “sticker book” or “maze book” etc, and then in the menu on the left (you’ll need to scroll down), select the seller as Big Bad Wolf. In general for children’s nonfiction books this search method has worked fairly well for me. At least I think…
This one deserves its own slot, although it’s a classic. The edition in the sale is different than this one pictured. This book, in my (Amanda) opinion, answers the question, “what is the meaning of life?”
Nonfiction
These can be found in the children’s book sections – I wouldn’t look by age, since they don’t seem to be categorized very accurately. Check the nonfiction box in the left menu when looking at the children’s books, but also try doing a search for a general topic (bugs, Smithsonian, animal facts, etc) in the site’s main search bar and then selecting Big Bad Wolf as the seller in the menu on the left. Walk this World at Christmastime deserves a special link here, I think.
Category: YA/Adult fiction and nonfiction
Fiction
There are a ton of classics like the Hunger Games, Maze Runner… these are hard to find, I’m not going to lie. Be sure to look in both YA and Adult sections, and I also found some fiction in the biographies/memoirs category and vice versa. The Help,
I’m changing tactics here for nonfiction. Instead of doing images, I made a list of the books that I (Amanda) have personally read and enjoyed or are by authors I like, are at least 50% off, and linked them. For finding nonfiction, go to the noon Big Bad Wolf sale, and check the following categories: best-selling nonfiction (at the top), reference, biographies/memoirs, health and wellness, history, art/architecture/photography (all of these are in the categories), and then also check the children’s books for nonfiction because it seems there’s some overlap but not all. I also found nonfiction books in the YA and Adult category by age that were NOT in the appropriate category on the main page… It’s a wild goose chase!